Connecting our diverse communities.

About KPCC

Connect with us

People

LAPD Chief Beck on public interaction, Watts officer-involved shooting - You can ask the chief

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck made his monthly appearance on KPCC’s "Patt Morrison" last week. Beck talked about the LAPD's interactions with the public and an officer-involved shooting in Watts. KPCC is asking you what questions you have for Beck and L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca. Your questions will help inform Patt's upcoming forum on December 8 on law and order.

Following the Halloween shooting of a 5-year-old boy by alleged gang members, caller Raphael, who identified himself as a black man, asked Beck why Raphael should trust police with the life of his young son and why he should have to teach his son how to interact with the police.

"While it's important that the community learns what the needs of its police department are," Beck said, "it's even more important that we learn what the needs of the community are."

"I don't think that you have to teach your son in a vacuum," said Beck. "We have a number of programs that are available to youth at all the local police stations that will let him learn for himself, and let him see that police officers, unbelievable as it may seem, are human beings, just like everybody else. And that they are fathers, they are brothers, they are mothers, they are sisters, they interact well with people."

Beck also provided an update on the recent officer-involved shooting in Watts, explaining the process behind the investigation. "They are the most extensive investigations we do. We combine not only the information from the coroner, from our partners at the DA's investigators, but the inspector general is also involved," said Beck.

"We do a thorough, thorough investigation where witnesses are contacted, physical evidence is compared. It is reviewed not only by the district attorney on the criminal side, but then at several levels within the department up to me for the administrative side. And then the final adjudication is made by the police commission and is referred back to me for discipline."